Nightmares
by ChucklingDevil
Summary: A songfic/one-shot about Jareth after the Labyrinth. What can Jareth do when all he wants is HER? Rated T for mildly dark themes. Nothing gorey or anything.


**Nightmares**

**(AN: **My first songfic!I know this seems weird but this fic was inspired by a song. That isn't the weird part, the weird part is the song is based on the Doctor Who fandom-verse. Some of you may know this song, 'Nightmares' by Chameleon Circuit.  
If you're a Doctor Who fan I assure you that you'll love their songs.  
**Sit back and enjoy my written desires.)**

**Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Henson, Chameleon Circuit and other various owners.  
I do not benefit financialy from this nor am ever likely to.**

* * *

She made her choice, said her words and left him here alone in this ruin of a castle. The void was closing in on him. The black dotted with the puzzle pieces of his Escher Room.

***_"The darkness holds only one thing:  
The End of Time itself."_**

He stared at the timepiece that hung in the air. Blades set at the thirteenth hour. He was exhausted, everything he'd done for her was for nought. She didn't understand and that was the worst blow of all. He brought a hand out to brace himself against an archway and his head met the smooth stone as he fought for control. The Time was slipping through his fingers and if he wasn't careful enough to bring it back he would never be able to influence it again.

**_Hey old man, rest your head,  
You're breaking down inside  
Amour's cracked, set to collapse,  
Damn you don't you cry_**

He fought back the tears bitterly with frustration and annoyance. He _didn't _cry, never had. Why start now? He was a powerful being, he had destroyed far more than he had ever created, done so without so much as a thought.

**_I've ended lives and ended worlds,  
I guess I've done it all  
Fire and ice, and rage inside,  
How long to 'til I fall?_**

In anger he threw himself away from the wall. How is it a girl, a mortal no-less could bring him to this level? He had begged! Him! An immortal being, had been brought to the level of begging a girl. He had so desperately wanted her to stay. He, the Lord of Time and Dreams and Desires. He, a royal with more grace and conduct than she would ever know. He, with the depths of feelings and knowledge provided by Time's infinity.

**_Somewhere all my darkest fears are gathering  
It's not enough to save the day,  
I can't escape my nightmares_**

He had done so much for her. Every time she had fallen he had been there to catch her. Every time she had needed guidance he had sent her aid.  
He had been too confident, thinking she would stay with him. She hadn't understood any of it, only thinking she was journeying through dangers and obstacles to rail against the mighty Goblin King. She had not even considered his feelings.

**_Dreams have showed me who I am,  
a danger to myself  
Trickster fear, far from revered,  
so I must fear as well_**

Confidence had blinded him. He was so used to controlling everything. Dreams were his to bend, his to disfigure and his to direct. Yet he couldn't control his own. Arrogance had set him on his high horse and he didn't bother to think whether he would fall.

His actions so controlled and his nature wild. He had lost the respect and worship from those around him. His acute mind and dark side had brought about fear in the crowds. They all wore their masks well but he could see through the tinniest of cracks.

**_Words and laughter wearing thin,  
breaking this disguise  
Where do angels fear to tread?  
How can I think to hide?_**

He couldn't stand it anymore. His life had been so simple. He attended court and affairs as any royal would. It all became mundane and the colour had slowly faded. Then he had seen her. A girl of raven hair, sitting on a carved stone bench, reading the nonsense of washed-out fairy tales to a dog with the park as her stage. Her heart displayed for the entire world to see. She was lonely, she was so different from anything else in his existence yet she was like him in so many ways. No true companions, surrounded by people who couldn't appreciate her.

The colour was back, he had feared it, loathed it even. But he would always come back. What had he to hide? The girl brought emotions he had long thought dead. His obsession had become intolerable and somewhat dangerous as he grew restless. Doing a number of slight actions he really should have put more thought into.

**_Somewhere all my darkest fears are gathering  
It's not enough to save the day,  
I can't escape my nightmares_**

He was destined to be alone. There was nothing he could do about it. Surrounded by doting subjects while feared by them as well. But there would never be her warm presence, her colourful aura. He had become addicted to it, he couldn't see himself without her by his side. The image had burned itself in his mind and left scorches that would never heal over.

Drawing himself up, he made another decision. He couldn't go back to his previous life. So dull and painfully bleak. He needed the flare she provided, the feelings that she stirred. He'd be damned if she was going to escape him. For the third time that night he collapsed into himself to morph and subject his body to the change. On silent wings he shot through the night and followed the scent of his prey.

**_Somewhere all my darkest fears are gathering  
It's not enough to save the day,  
I can't escape my nightmares_**

She had closed her eyes, resting them for one blessed moment, but the images that came to her wouldn't allow for sleep. She tried shaking the feeling of violation and fear from her mind. It was over, she wouldn't have to worry. She'd done something that no other person could ever claim to do. She had been the hero and saved her brother. She need not fear the dark anymore.

Yet every time she closed her eyes she would see him. Menacing and taunting, a figure hugged by the darkness itself and welcoming the fear that rolled off her. Her exhausted eyes fought for compliance but she wouldn't be able to keep them up for much longer.

She pushed away from the bed to stumble along the flooring of her room. She opened the window to allow the sharp air to shock her body into wakefulness. For a moment she could relax and let her mind tune itself down, for just that one peaceful moment she wasn't afraid of anything. She later realised she had been a fool to think that anything could ever be that simple.

The rustle of feathers and a silent scream echoed throughout the house as the girl with green eyes disappeared from the world, having met her nightmares and fallen into its clutches. The Master of Dreams needn't be pleasant, not when he could control her so much more easily as the Master of Nightmares.

No one can ever escape their nightmares. There is only ever the option of increasing their influence and tangibility.

* * *

**(AN:** *I removed the first line from the first stanza 'cause it didn't work with the fic.  
The original verse was:  
**_"This is what we have seen, Doctor.  
The darkness holds only one thing:  
The End of Time itself." _**  
Other than that it's the whole song.  
**Until next time, your ever faithful personal devil awaits.)**


End file.
